Napoli back at the Maradona against Italiano's Bologna
Napoli will host last season's surprise package Bologna for their first home game of the season, with Antonio Conte's side looking to bounce back from their 3-0 opening-day defeat to Hellas Verona.
Vincenzo Italiano's team certainly won't be pushovers, yet the Azzurri hold a good record against the side from Emilia Romagna having scored more goals against them (194) than any other team in Serie A.
The Rossoblu, however, can take solace from the fact they are unbeaten in their last three league meetings with Napoli (W1, D2). Last season, under the now departed Thiago Motta, they kept clean sheets in both matches, and will be looking to record three consecutive league encounters without conceding against Napoli for the first time.
The most recent Serie A clash between these two sides was at the Stadio Maradona at the tail end of last season, with the visitors scoring twice in the opening 12 minutes to emerge as 2-0 victors.
Italiano will be hoping to mastermind consecutive away victories for Bologna at Napoli for the first time since 1936, when they achieved that feat with Arpad Weisz at the helm.
Bologna's opening-day stats
Bologna were held to a 1-1 home draw by Udinese on the opening weekend of the 2024/25 Serie A season. Riccardo Orsolini opened the scoring from the spot before Lautaro Giannetti levelled for the visitors. The Rossoblu haven't drawn their first two games of a Serie A campaign since 2009/10, when Giuseppe Papadopulo's side shared the spoils with Fiorentina and Bari.
Bologna have actually drawn six of their last nine league fixtures (W2, D1) including last season but started the current term with plenty of attacking intent, recording the highest expected goals (3.25) on the opening day of the top five European leagues, albeit with the biggest difference between goals and xG (-2.25).
This was achieved by peppering the Udinese goal with shots (22) – fewer only than Milan (26) in Week 1 – and seven of those were on target, with only Inter managing more (eight).
One of the key takeaways from Bologna's first match under Vincenzo Italiano was their ability to create openings from the wide areas, with 22 crosses coming from open play – fewer only than AC Milan (32) once again.
Both teams bossed possession in Matchday 1: Bologna (73.5%) saw more of the ball than any other Serie A side while Napoli (66.7%) recorded the fourth highest stat, after Inter (67.4%) e Lazio (67.3%).
Bologna's danger men: Orsolini, Castro, Ndoye
With Joshua Zirkzee making a summer move to Manchester United, Bologna's main attacking threat is now Riccardo Orsolini, starting his eighth consecutive Serie A campaign with the Rossoblu. His penalty conversion against Udinese ended a seven-match run without finding the back of the net and confirmed his status as the Italian player with the most goals (22) in the last three Serie A seasons (since 2022/23).
Orsolini has 51 total goals in the Italian top flight but none against Napoli as yet. Indeed, the Azzurri are the team he has played against most often without recording a goal or an assist (ten matches).
Santiago Castro was another of Bologna's standout performers on the opening day and the 19-year-old Argentine will be keen to make a name for himself in his maiden Serie A season after switching from Velez Sarsfield. He managed five shots on goal against Udinese, the same number as Orsolini and fewer only than Roberto Piccoli (six) and Rafael Leao (seven).
Supporting Orsolini and Castro will be Dan Ndoye, who has fond memories of the Stadio Maradona – it was here that the Swiss wideman notched his first and so far only Serie A goal in Bologna's 2-0 win on 11 May.
The 23-year-old could prove to be a thorn in Napoli's side as he is a real threat in one-on-ones. His three completed dribbles against Udinese were bettered only by Vitinha's five last weekend.
Article by Silvio Mastroianni of Opta
